School As A Caring Community A Challenge For Qualitative Expansion In Education Beyond Classroom: A Comparative Survey Of Select Principals, Teachers And Class Ix -Students Of Tura Town In Meghalaya With Nalbari Town In Assam, India

Abstract: School Climate or School environment plays a major role in shaping the quality of school life, teaching, learning, and support. Key concepts for understanding school and classroom climate are social system organization; social attitudes; staff and student morale; power, control, guidance, support, and evaluation structures; curricular and instructional practices; communicated expectations; efficacy; accountability demands; cohesion; competition; "fit" between learner and classroom; system maintenance, growth, and change; orderliness; and safety. Research has indicated a range of strategies for enhancing a positive climate. All school staff have a significant role to play in ensuring that such strategies are well-implemented and maintained. With this in view, the researchers have undertaken a comparative survey of select principals, teachers and Class IX students of Nalbari Town and Tura Town with the Five Points rating scale adapted from "School as a Caring Community Profile-II A Survey of Students, Staff, and Parents", developed by T.Lickona and M.Davidson in January, 2003. The findings indicate that though there are variations in the Private Schools and Government Schools in Nalbari and Tura Town, Schools in Tura Town indicate a better picture of learning environment as compared to schools in Nalbari Town.

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